For Better or Worse
by beatlechicksteph
Summary: After the events of the midseason finale, Oliver sits in the waiting room of the hospital and wonders if Felicity is going to make it.


**I wrote this story for the Olicity Secret Santa exchange on Tumblr. This is my first foray into the world of Arrow and Olicity, and I had a lot of fun writing it! There are spoilers up through the mid-season finale of season 4, so beware. Thank you to chiisai-kitty for being my beta for this fic!**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own anything affiliated with Arrow.**

Oliver sat in the waiting room of the hospital, head in his hands, fighting to hold himself together. The ambulance ride to the hospital was the longest ten minutes of his life. He had struggled to not yell at the EMTs. They were busy trying to get Felicity stable before they reached the hospital, so they were focused. They weren't ignoring him like he felt they were, but he really wanted to know what was going on and they wouldn't tell him anything.

In fact, he hadn't gotten any answers since arriving at the hospital. Family only. It didn't matter that she was wearing his ring on her finger, it wasn't official. So he watched helplessly while they wheeled his fiancée back into an operating room, reluctantly answered questions from the police, and finally called Donna and Diggle, before finally taking a seat in the waiting room.

"Where is she?" Donna screamed as she ran into the waiting room. "Where's my baby?"

Oliver stood up and walked over to her. "Donna," he said, his voice breaking.

Donna turned around, and once she confirmed who it was, flung herself into Oliver's arms. Oliver moved his arms around her, pulling her to him tightly. "Oh, Oliver! What's going on? How is she?"

"I don't know," he said, his voice breaking. "They won't tell me anything. I'm not family."

Donna pulled back, wiping her eyes. "Well, I am, so I'm going to go over see what I can find out."

Oliver nodded and watched as she walked over to the counter. He turned and saw Diggle walking in with Laurel and Thea not far behind him. Diggle didn't hesitate, he walked right up to Oliver, and pulled him into a tight hug.

"How you holding up?" he asked.

Oliver just shook his head. "Not good."

They pulled apart, but still stood closely together.

"Darhk?" Diggle asked quietly.

Oliver nodded.

"Don't worry, we'll get him and make him pay. For everything."

"I can't lose her, John. I don't know what'll happen to me if I lose her."

"You're not going to lose her, Oliver. Our girl is strong. She'll pull through."

"It's all my fault," Oliver said, taking a step back and running his hands over his face.

"Ollie, it's not your fault," Thea said, joining them.

"It is," Oliver said. "If I hadn't antagonized Darhk, if I had tried to get us away sooner—"

"Darhk would have just found another way," Laurel said. "Blaming yourself for this won't make anything better. You need to focus on Felicity."

"She's in surgery to try and repair any damage caused by the bullets. They don't know how long it'll be," Donna said, walking back to the group. "All they know is she's in critical condition and all we can do is wait."

oOo oOo

Several hours later, the group were still in the waiting room. At some point Detective Lance had joined them. It was late and everyone but Oliver and Donna were dozing in the uncomfortable waiting room chairs.

"Felicity Smoak's family?" a doctor asked, entering the waiting room.

"Here!" Donna exclaimed standing up and walking over to the doctor. Oliver stood up and followed closely behind.

"Your daughter is out of surgery and is in recovery," the doctor said. "We were able to remove the bullet and repair the damage."

"How is she?" Oliver asked.

"It was touch and go there for a bit, but she is expected to make a full recovery. She was very lucky."

Oliver breathed a sigh of relief. "Can we see her?"

"She hasn't woken up yet, so family only."

Donna and Oliver exchanged a look. "He's family, he can go see her first," Donna said.

"Donna, I—"

"No, you go see her. I'll go and update the rest of the group. Besides, there' s no way I'm going to miss out on making a big entrance with the biggest balloons and teddy bear imaginable. Text me when she's awake."

Oliver smiled. "Will do," he said before following the doctor down the hall. They walked in silence to the room. Before entering, Oliver took a deep breath and prepared himself for the worst. But as he walked in, he noticed that she wasn't hooked up to a bunch of machines like he feared, she was just hooked up to an IV. She didn't even look as bad as he had imagined. She just looked like he was sleeping. He walked over and pulled a chair up next to the bed. He took her hand in his, and the tears he had been holding back all night finally came flooding out.

oOo oOo

Oliver awoke to someone's hand running through his hair. He sat up from where he had fallen asleep on the bed. He saw Felicity awake and looking at him with a smile.

"Felicity," he breathed out.

"Hey, so Happy First Holiday season as an engaged couple," Felicity quipped quietly.

Oliver shook his head. "Gives us something to improve upon," Oliver responded.

Felicity laughed, and then grimaced. "Yeah, next year I expect less supervillains and more chocolate."

"I think I can manage the chocolate, but I can't make any promises on the supervillain part. This is Star City you know—we grow supervillains like weeds."

"True enough."

Oliver grew serious. "I'm so glad you're okay. I'm so sorry, I—"

"Don't you dare take any of the blame for this, Oliver Queen," Felicity interrupted. "We were ambushed. By Ghosts. Not your fault. And before you say anything else, we've already had a whole conversation about the dangers of our jobs. So if you're thinking about taking my pretty bling away, you better stop it right now."

Oliver shook his head. "I almost lost you."

"Well, you didn't. You're stuck with me, mister. For better or for worse. That's how it goes right?"

Oliver nodded. "Yeah."

They sat in silence for a few minutes just basking in each other presence. Oliver began ruminating on everything that had happened in the past few days alone, and made a decision that could change everything again. But he needed to get it out in the open. For better or for worse.

"I have a son," he blurted out.

"What?"

"I have a son. His name is William. He's eight. I found out about him when we were in Central City fighting Vandal Savage."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Felicity asked.

"Because his mother told me that if I wanted to have a relationship with him, I couldn't tell anyone, even you, about him."

Felicity shook her head. "Why tell me now?"

"Because we shouldn't have any secrets if we're going to be married. And keeping this from you was killing me."

"Won't telling me cause you to not see your son anymore?"

Oliver shook his head. "I'll hire a lawyer, and do this right. Like I should have from the beginning."

Felicity nodded.

"You're not upset?"

"That you have a son? No, of course not. I'm a little upset that you kept this from me, but given the ultimatum his mother laid out, I kinda understand where you're coming from."

Oliver smiled. "You're amazing."

"I love you, too," Felicity replied, returning his smile.


End file.
